Baseball Drops Season Finale, 6-3, To Long Island

May 16, 2009

BROOKLYN,
N.Y.  The Quinnipiac University baseball team gave up a
two-run lead late in the final game of its 2009 season in a 6-3
loss to Long Island University at KeySpan Park in Coney Island,
N.Y. Quinnipiac drops to 11-17 in NEC play and 18-34 overall while
Long Island snaps an 18-game losing streak to improve to 10-40
overall and 6-21 in conference play.

Quinnipiac
starter Joe Duffy (Commack, N.Y.) took the hard-luck loss as the
Bobcats committed three errors behind the senior pitcher, letting
up three unearned runs in the loss. Duffy finishes his final season
at 2-10. Duffy scattered nine hits and did not allow more than one
runner on base until the 7th inning. He struck out six
in the loss.

At
the plate, Mike Maro (Brookville, N.Y.) and Ryan Ullrich
(Woodbridge, Conn.) both collected two hits apiece, while Ullrich
drove in two runs. Senior Bobak Emamian (Cheshire, Conn.) scored
twice in his final collegiate baseball game while senior John
Simone (Setauket, N.Y.) had a single in his final game. Brian
Monack (Branford, Conn.) homered in the Bobcats' loss.

Monack
put the Bobcats on the board in the 1st inning. After
Bryn Doyle (Manchester, N.H.) walked with one out, and was then
thrown out attempting to steal second base, Monack blasted his
ninth homerun of the year and second in as many games into the
right-field bleachers at KeySpan Park.

Quinnipiac
tacked on another run in the 2nd inning when Emamian
walked with one out in the inning, followed by back-to-back singles
by Mickey Amanti (Wateford, Conn.) and Ullrich. Ullrich's single up
the middle scored Emamian to give the Bobcats a 2-0
lead.

In
the bottom of the 2nd, Long Island struck back when
Chris DeSantis drove a pitch from Duffy over the head of Ullrich in
right field for a double. He scored on a single through the right
side of the infield by Drew Walsh.

In
the top of the 6th, Long Island starter Mark Owens gave
up a lead-off single to Marmo before inducing the doubleplay ball
from Gabe Guerino (Milford, Conn.). Emamian then reached on an
error by the Blackbirds second baseman before Owens walked
Amanti. Ullrich delivered
with his second RBI-single of the day to score Emamian and give
Quinnipiac a two-run lead, 3-1.

The
hit knocked Owens from the game in favor of Andy Yawger, who
started and went the distance against the Bobcats on Friday. Yawger
threw 128 pitchers on Friday, before emerging from the Blackbirds'
dugout for the 62nd appearance of his career, a new Long
Island University record. He retired Simone to end the
inning.

In
the bottom of the 7th, Long Island scored four runs to
take a two-run lead heading into the 8th inning. Greg
DeSantis reached on a throwing error by Quinnipiac's shortstop
before hitting Tyler Jones with a pitch to put two runners on base
for the first time on the afternoon. Walsh then dropped a bunt down
the third base line and beat out the throw for an infield single to
load the bases. Derek Stupski then lined a double to the
right-center field gap to score DeSantis and Jones to tie the game
at 3-3. Sam Sciamarelli then lined a single to left field to score
Walsh and give the Blackbirds a 4-3 lead.

Duffy
bounced back, striking out the always-dangerous Jame Jones with a
3-and-2 backdoor curveball before catcher Marmo gunned-down
Sciamarelli attempting to steal second for the second out of the
inning. Greg Tingos then hit a ground ball to the hole between
first and second base that the Bobcats' second baseman couldn't
field clean, allowing Tingos to reach and Stupski to score and give
Long Island a 5-3 lead. Long Island scored an unearned run in the
bottom of the 8th to push its lead to three runs,
6-3.